RIDDLES
From The Hobbit.
It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,
Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.
It lies behind stars and under hills,
And empty holes it fills.
It comes first and follows after,
Ends life, kills laughter.
[snow] lands upon castle gate. . . .
Voiceless it cries
Wingless it flutters,
Tooothless bites
Mouthless mutters
A box without hinges, key, or lid,
Yet golden treasure inside are hid,
This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town;
And beats high mountains down.
Alive without breath
As cold as death
Never thirsty, ever drinking
All in mail never clinking
What is greater than god,
More villainous than the devil,
The rich want it
The poor have it
The miser spends it
The spindrift saves it.
Water, water every where and not a drop to drink
---
From The Sorceror and the Glass,
When is a door not a door
Why does a policeman where a belt
We do people go to bed
I pass before the sun and yet make no shadow.
Nothing it is yet it has a name
Sometimes long, sometimes short
Comes to our talks, comes to our sport
And plays at every game
Has a bed but never sleeps
A mouth but never speaks
What has four wheels and flies?
What is no sooner spoken than broken?
What has four legs at morning, two legs at mid-day and three legs at night?
Feed me and I live; give me a drink and I die. What am I?
This is light as a feather yet no man can hold it for long.
If you break me I’ll not stop working; if you can touch me my work is done; if you lose me you’d better find me with a ring soon after. What am I?
Go up a chimney down but cannot go down a chimney up?
We are very little creatures and all have different features. On of us in glass is set; one of us you’ll find in jet. Another you may see in tin, and a forth is bound within. If the fifth you should pursue, it can never fly from you. What are we?
I have a hundred legs but cannot stand; a long neck but no head. I eat the maids life. What am I?
This thing has runs but never walks,
Sometimes sings but never talks
Lacks arms, has hands
Lacks a head, has a face.
What builds up castles, tears down mountains,
Makes some people blind but others to see?
What lives in winter
Dies in summer
And grows with its roots.. . upward?
Man walks over; man walks under; in time of war it burns asunder.
Has eyes but cannot see?
I occur once in a minute, twice in every moment, but not once in a thousand years.
In a tunnel of darkness lies a beast of iron. But it can only attack when pulled back.
Walk on the living, they don’t even mumble; walk on the dead, mutter and grumble.
With no wings I fly; with no eyes I see. With no arms I climb. More frightening than any beast; stronger than any foe. I am cunning, ruthless, and tall; in the end, I rule all.
I am emeralds and diamonds. Lost by the moon.
I am found by the sun and picked up soon. What am I?
Out of the eater came forth meat.
Out of the strong came sweetness.
(I don’t like this one. Biblical: Samson kills a lion, then bees make a nest in the skull.)
Why did the dead baby cross the road??
…..because it was stapled to the chicken!
The big moron and the little moron were standing on a bridge over the River Send. The big moron fell off. How come the little moron didn’t fall too?
What’s Irish and stays out back of the house even if it rains?
What’s green, weighs a hundred tons and lives at the bottom of the ocean? Moby Snot!
Why do people go to bed?
What’s the difference between a truckload of bowling balls and a truckload of dead woodchucks?
You can’t unload a truckload of bowling balls with a pitchfork!
What’s the greatest riddle of the Orient??..... Many men smoke, but Fu Man Chu!
